In an era where mental health awareness was finally gaining the attention it deserved, it’s alarming to witness political figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushing policies that would roll back critical mental health services.
An executive order from the White House was passed on Feb. 13, 2025, establishing the “Make America Healthy Again Commission,” highlighting plans to review America’s life expectancy in relation to nations around the world, as well as focus on the health of America’s children, including reviewing prescriptions for depression, anxiety and ADHD.
As for now, this executive order focuses on children, which I continue to find insufficient and deeply concerning. Mental health is not an issue that can be solved with half-measures or adopting “fresh thinking on nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles,” or any similar “solution.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in seven children from the ages of three to 17 (13%) have been previously diagnosed with a mental or behavioral health condition or have a current mental or behavioral health condition.
As an individual who has been regularly prescribed medication for an anxiety disorder and continues to struggle with their mental health, I know first hand the gravity of these issues and how important immediate access to these care services are.
It’s important to remember mental health struggles manifest in different ways, and often, it is a long internal battle to even be prescribed medication in the first place. Despite the conversation about it, there remains a deep stigma surrounding the topic of mental health.
I can remember struggling through each day, waking up exhausted from the weight of my own thoughts. I pushed through my rigorous schedule daily and subtly gaslighted myself into believing I was fine because I got up and out of bed each day. It took years for me to even admit to myself that something was not right, let alone a physician.
This is the reality for nearly 23.1% of adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. While these illnesses vary in degree, the process for treatment is anything but simple. Various appointments, medication trial and error, fear of stigma and expensive fees are just a few of the struggles that follow seeking mental health treatment.
These struggles will only be exacerbated by RFK Jr.’s policies as they threaten to restrict these services that allow those with mental health disorders to function.
Children’s mental well-being is important – and it should be addressed – but it is simply reckless to overhaul mental health services that may impact the most vulnerable without fully grasping the long-term side effects.
In addition, the children struggling with these mental health disorders will not magically be cured through adjusting their diet or engaging in more exercise. Likewise, these issues will not go away once the child turns 18.
When a child gets a virus, a physician would not withhold medication to see if they can survive without it. So why are we planning to make this gamble when it comes to a mental health issue?
Now, I feel that it is important to note that just beyond the human right to healthcare, there are several issues in our country that stem from the lack of mental health resources and, specifically, our youth.
For example, according to Statista, between 1970 and 2020, 175 school shootings were perpetrated by minors. Now, while I recognize this is a complex issue that stems beyond mental health, the phrase, “Guns don’t kill, people do,” is often what we are met with when discussing gun control.
Now, considering the potential rollback on mental health services in recent policies, it remains clear this logic fails to address the root cause of the violence that continues to devastate our youth.
The fact of the matter is, regardless of the scenario, should we continue to ignore mental health struggles while simultaneously trying to combat struggles such as school shootings, we are simply highlighting symptoms of the same problem without ever aiming to address the cause.
Regardless of the conversation, whether it be healthcare access or gun violence, mental health must be a part of the conversation. Hindering these services is not going to cure the problem, but rather allow it to fester.
Should these experiments fail, these politicians that so many have come to know, praise and develop a parasocial relationship with will not be the ones who suffer, but rather it will be the children and their families left without the medications they need to go through day to day life.
Kaitlyn can be contacted at [email protected]
